These are the Chronicles of Famous Surf Writer Ben Marcus and his trip into the Wilds of the Alaskan Frontier.
Latest Update: September 21, 2000

MIDNIGHT SUN INTERNET CAFE, WHITE HORSE, YUKON, CANADA, NORTH AMERICA, EARTH

There is a Sears outlet in White Horse and as soon as I'm done drinking my coffee and eating my death wad cinnamon bun and typing this, I'm gonna go to Sears with my credit card, find the "Warm shit" department and spend some dough.

It's cold up here, children. This morning the puddles were frozen over, and I saw a bird figure-skating in a bird bath. Last night I drove around White Horse with the heater blazing just to stay warm, watching Thin Red Line on DVD out of the corner of my eye, and trying to find a clear spot where I could see the Northern Lights, which made an appearance last night, way off on the northern horizon.

After midnight I stopped at a laundromat that was open for some reason, and threw all my blankets and sheets into the dryer to heat them up. While doing that, I glanced at a bank clock and it said the time, then "3"

That's a capital "3" and that rhymes with "C" and that stands for "Cold." This is an inland, bitter, stinging, Yukon cold. Impressive, but not so fun for sleeping.

Anyway, hopefully Sears will have a big down comforter and maybe some kind of space heater I can hang from the ceiling of the van and turn on during those wee hours, when all the heat has escaped from the van.

Other than being cold, White Horse is a clean, well-lighted, prosperous Yukon town about the size of Salinas, maybe. It's a nice little community that has a shitload of history behind it, as White Horse is on the Yukon River, and must have been a hell for leather Gold Rush town back in the day, when all the business going back and forth to the gold fields passed through here.

Being around here and seeing things makes you wonder about the stampeders of 1898, and what they went through to get some color. Imagine some shmo coming from Boston. I imagine people still sailed around the Horn in 1898, then all the way up to San Francisco, then all the way from San Francisco to here, then slogged over White Pass with all their gear, then chopping down trees on the banks of the Bennet River, then built a sailboat or barge by hand, then navigated the rapids and brigands of the Yukon River.

All to get some gold. I wonder how many of those people actually made any money.

Anyway, I need to read some Jack London Yukon books now. Anyone out there know which ones are the ones to read?

I drove from Skagway to White Horse yesterday after posting the "jail" e-mail. The drive from Skagway over the White Pass is pretty large: The sky is large and blue, the mountains are large and snow-capped, the lakes are large and empty. Everything is large. You've heard it before, from London to Parmenter, but seeing is appreciating. This place is big. And I'm only way down at the bottom corner of it.

It was over 100 miles from Skagway to White Horse, but a nice drive on one of the clearest days in months, according to everyone I talked to. The trees are turning here, too, and it just all feels and looks good.

I'm just a northern guy, I guess. Don't like deserts. I like trees and such.

There wasn't much going on in White Horse. I checked e-mail at the public library and just drove around. There is a station for the White Pass and Yukon Railway, a toursit train like the Skunk or the Big Trees, but one that goes a long way, from Skagway, over White Pass, all the way to here.

Had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the Yukon: French onion soup and garlic bread.

Went back to the library to check e-mail again, and the librarian gave me a sheet of places with interent access in White Horse. The Trail of 98 RV park was one of them, so I went there.

The office was closed and I was restless, and cold. I stayed up until after midnight, sitting in the driver's seat, watching DVD's then driving around town when I saw the Northern Lights, but wanted to see them with no glare. Heated up the blankets at the laundromat, saw the "3" degree sign and then went back to the RV park.

Finally went to sleep around 1:00 AM, dreaming of Sears.

Sears is where I am going right now.

Bye bye.